I often say that New Year’s Eve is one of my least favourite holidays and it’s for the same reason that I dislike New Year resolutions so much. People always say on New Year’s Eve “something will be going on, it will be great”. Of course, this leads to nobody planning anything and the usual holiday events of trying to get into crowded venues for overpriced entertainment.

The point I am getting at here is the big loud gestures but no actual planning. If resolutions work for you then fair play, get out and do them. But for most people, it does not work or it does in the short term and often it is due to these reasons. Someone says “I want to lose weight”. Well, how much? How will you do it? Why do you have excess weight to begin? By when? Or even why do you want to lose weight?

What you should do is ask yourself the right questions and decide I want to lose x amount of weight by x time and figure out what it will take for me to get there.

For myself, this seems obvious but I know for many people with their own training this is not and they lack the time to research this stuff as well as they need. That’s why trainers exist and any of them who don’t plan well in advance for their clients’ needs to be questioned. On that same point, anyone advertising detoxes or similar fads in the New Year should be steered clear of but that's a post in itself,

I recently was discussing a client’s training program with them and showed them the potential course of their training over the next two years. Now that might sound excessive and it’s not set in stone it is a guide. This client’s goals were mainly strength based which takes a lot of time and builds slowly over the course of months and years. I like to use the analogy of carrying a weight up a mountain. If you didn’t plan the route in advance you’re setting yourself up for some trouble.

The exact same thing can be said about resolutions if you are not setting up some form of a plan as to how you might actually achieve them then you’re likely wasting your own time. My goals in January for my training and life are exactly the same as they were in December. In short, failure to plan is planning for failure. If you want to improve yourself then go get it done but figure out how and then get out and do it. If you need help doing that then seek it out either in person or online.